Behind the Scenes: How We Do Employee Onboarding

Most companies recognize the importance of team training, but struggle to implement a training program or employee training software. This blog series offers an inside look at how the Lessonly team uses our own software to do better work. We hope these tips and examples provide a framework for effective and engaging team learning.

Over the last few years, the Lessonly team has grown a lot. We quickly learned that employee onboarding can make—or break—a team member’s success. Great onboarding improves employee engagement, ramp time to productivity, retention rates, and the company’s bottom line. Because of this, we’re always updating our onboarding program to ensure we provide the best experience to our new team members.

Here are a few ways that we’ve leveraged our software to drive exceptional employee onboarding.

Provide essential and engaging preboarding

I joined the Lessonly team just 90 days ago. There were plenty of new job jitters. A few days after excitedly signing my acceptance letter, an email hit my inbox that introduced me to Lessonly. Already sitting in my account were lessons like, “Welcome to the Team” and “An Introduction to Marketing at Lessonly.” These preboarding lessons jump-started my introduction to a new job.

Preboarding efficiently uses the time between accepting the job and the first day of work. When employers share information about their office, company policies, or work logistics, they more effectively prepare new employees for their first day. This process is extremely beneficial—reducing the nerves of new hires, cutting down on administrative tasks, and helping managers provide a better experience for their new employee.

Tactically—one week before their start date, new Lessonly teammates receive a lesson that shares our mission, vision, and values; how to be an ideal team player; and information about our departments and roles. Additionally, this interactive lesson informs employees what to do and bring to nail their first day at Lessonly. By completing my preboarding process, I knew exactly what to expect and was ready to jump right into my new role.

Create custom employee training paths

When I walked in the door at Lessonly, my manager had a unique and custom onboarding path waiting for me. Lessonly’s Learning Paths made it easy for him to create a seamless experience that provided the knowledge I needed for my specific role and team. My custom training path featured lessons about key metrics, marketing team objectives, and helpful resources. Instead of overburdening me with too much information at once, my path was laid out over the course of a few weeks—allowing ample time to process information and ask questions when needed.

Onboarding should not solely focus on procedures, processes, and administrative tasks. The best onboarding programs integrate new employees into their teams and the entire company as soon as possible—without overwhelming them.

From providing useful content to outlining performance expectations, effective onboarding should be customized for employees across different teams and roles for maximum impact.

The marketing department isn’t the only team that creates custom training paths. New members of Lessonly’s sales org complete a structured onboarding program that maximizes ramp time to productivity. The program, targeted toward account executives and sales development reps, is divided into three detailed onboarding stages. Each stage has a key theme and clear objectives to ensure that new employees understand what is expected of them during each stage. Additionally, each path requires reps to complete quizzes and assessments to ensure they understand the information before progressing to the next stage. This path ensures a smooth onboarding process for new employees and their managers alike.

Don’t stop onboarding: focus on long-term development

90 days into my not-so-new job with Lessonly, I still receive onboarding lessons. These lessons have equipped me with the knowledge I need to go from new hire to a valuable team member. Recently, I completed a lesson that helped me understand the processes that I needed to complete a new project. The onboarding process continues to be a valuable resource as I’ve accomplished larger projects and taken on more responsibilities.
Unfortunately, many other companies don’t offer their employees an onboarding program like this. According toSHRM, only 15% of companies continue onboarding after six months and many programs end after an employees’ first month on the job. The additional training, check-ins, and coaching sessions can make all the difference in engaging an employee.

SHRM also notes that nearly 90% of employees decide whether to stay or go within the first six months—proving that continued onboarding can have a lasting impact.

The best part of using Lessonly is that every single lesson and piece of information I received during onboarding is still accessible. I can search Lessony’s learning library to revisit the content anytime and anywhere. Whether I want to refresh my memory or find an answer during a moment of need, Lessonly empowers me to do so.

An employee onboarding process is the first impression that new employees have of their new company (outside of the recruiting and hiring process). Astound new teammates with high-quality onboarding and you’ll see higher retention that positively impacts the organization for years to come. If your employees are anything like me, you’ll wow them from the start.

Create a robust onboarding program with Lessonly

Creating custom onboarding at scale doesn’t have to be difficult. Lessonly makes the process easy. Quickly build an onboarding program, share lessons, and measure the results, all within one platform.Take a tour today and see how Lessonly powers game-changing employee onboarding and training.